EU’s £365m sop to farmers to compensate for plummeting milk and meat prices
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Version 0 of 1. The European Union is to release €500m (£365m) in emergency aid to compensate for plummeting milk and meat prices, as thousands of furious farmers with tractors blocked the streets near the EU neighbourhood in Brussels. The pledge, made as EU agriculture ministers gathered in Brussels yesterday for an emergency meeting on the falling food prices, is for immediate direct payments to farmers, covering the cost of storing skimmed-milk powder, as well as funds to promote dairy and pork exports. Farmers blockaded the streets in front and around the European Union headquarters in Brussels (Rex) The measures were announced by the European Commission’s Vice-president Jyrki Katainen and were primarily aimed at dairy farmers, who have suffered a 20 per cent fall in European wholesale milk prices in the past year. Much of this is due to Russia’s ban on imports of European food products, the value of which comes to an estimated €12bn, in retaliation for EU sanctions on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine. Russia was one of the EU’s biggest markets for dairy products, accounting for 32 per cent of cheese exports and 24 per cent of butter exports. At the same time, farmers are struggling to cope with the deregulation of the dairy market, with EU milk quotas scrapped earlier this year. Other factors are also blamed, including changing dietary habits, a global oversupply of milk, droughts in Eastern Europe, African swine fever in Northern Europe, and slowing demand from China, hitting prices for beef and pork as well as dairy produce. The National Farmers Union of England and Wales says dairy farmers face a “state of emergency”, with average farm-gate milk prices in Britain now 23.35p a litre, well below the estimated cost of production of 30p a litre. France’s agriculture minister says that about 22,000 farms – one in 10 of the total – face bankruptcy with a combined debt of €1bn (£730m). In July, the EU extended until next year an aid package to help struggling European farmers hit by Russian sanctions, on top of farm subsidies worth more than €50bn a year. The move came as around 5,000 farmers – including some 100 from the UK – descended on Brussels to demand action. They faced off with riot police just a stone’s throw from where the ministers were meeting, setting up makeshift pyres from tyres and hay at crossroads, and setting fire to the local landscape. After pelting police with firecrackers, eggs and hay as well as heavy wooden projectiles – injuring three officers – they were doused by water cannon. An estimated 1,450 tractors blocked roads around the city, causing traffic problems throughout the day. The EU is the world’s largest milk producer, churning out an estimated 159 million tons per year. Dairy products account for about one-sixth of all EU farm produce by value, and about 8 per cent of all agriculture exports. |